A computer is a device which performs high-speed calculations. It first started with people trying to do quick-and-easy calculations. First came the abacus(most people think it's not a computer). Then came all the giant computers which worked with vacuum tubes (valves). These valves workes as transistors (switches with either turn on and off). On for 1 and off for 0. A computer uses binary language, which stores numbers and strings (words), and other data with only 2 digits (0 and 1)
Now transistors are used, which are much smaller, so quicker computers can be made. Early computers were so slow that some of them was 1/10,000th the speed of a modern day cell-phone.
A computer can only work if it has software (the programs and the system). It is also known as an O/S (Operating System like Apple Macintosh, Microsoft Windows and Linux). If it has software, then it can control all the hardware to do something (like a calculator or a game). When you turn on a computer, data is loaded from the hard drive into the RAM. Then you would login and start running programs. Most programs are interactive (meaning you would input something), so you would need an input device such as a keyboard, mouse or even a scanner. When you click a mouse button or press on a key, the input would go through the wire and into the computer procceser, (the CPU or Central Processing Unit). It would process the input and send a signal to the monitor, so your input would be shown.
Many other things are used in a computer such as -Speakers
- RAM (Random-Access Memory)
-ROM (Read Only memory)
-CD-ROM drive
- ALU (arithmetic logic unit)
- etc
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